Blythe Danner: America's Queen Mother

Here, a look at Blythe Danner's most memorable mamas

by Leslie Van Buskirk

Photograph: JON KOPALOFF/FILM MAGIC

If you’ve been thinking that the same actress is somehow playing the mom of every adult kid in movies and TV, you’re not crazy. Tony and Emmy winner Blythe Danner (real-life mother of Gwyneth Paltrow) has become Hollywood’s go-to choice for the fairer parent. As Danner herself recently remarked, “If it’s not embarrassing, I do it!” Here’s a look at her most memorable mamas.

Will & Grace (2004–06) As Will Truman’s mom, Danner is a barbed blue blood (and not-so-great parent) who gets her comeuppance when her husband dumps her for his mistress.

Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers/Little Fockers (2000–10) The genteel wife of Robert De Niro’s paranoid ex–CIA agent husband, Danner is the yin to his yang.

What’s Your Number?(2011) Danner, as Anna Faris’s uptight ’rent, aims to get her wayward daughter to settle down with a bland prepster.

Hello, I Must Be Going (opening September 7) As a -renovation-obsessed mom whose divorced daughter moves back home—wrecking both dreams and decor—Danner steals the film with her rendition of a golden-years meltdown.

Up All Night (2011–) Playing Christina Applegate’s loopy psychiatrist mom, she swipes a rooftop holiday display for her grandchild’s first Christmas.